Old-Time Toys

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian in
Orangeville, Ontario.

Nineteenth-century board-game players did not use dice because dice were
associated with the evils of gambling. Noah’s Ark, a menagerie of
animals in a wooden boat, was one of the few toys children were allowed
to play with on Sundays. Pop-up books, best sellers in the 1990s, were
first created for the children of the 1850s. Fascinating facts like
these are proof that Old-Time Toys, a new addition to Crabtree’s
Historical Communities series, does not stop with a description of the
wooden whistles and apple dolls standard in pioneer Christmas stockings.
Younger and older readers may be surprised at the ingenuity and
sophisticated technology that informed many of the toys enjoyed by
Victorians on both sides of the Atlantic.

Vivid pictures and illustrations accompany the lucid text. Those not
content to browse from cover to cover can quickly access information
about schoolyard toys, mechanical banks, intriguing puzzles, or other
topics of inquiry by consulting the book’s table of contents or index.
Although the technical information seems perfectly clear, a glossary is
provided to extend vocabulary understanding.

Like the popular Victorian kaleidoscope, this book is a kind of
fanciful mirror; it reflects the social context of the era by providing
a colorful glimpse of people at play. Highly recommended.